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    February 28,1857.] THE L E A D E E. 205

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    OITICIAL REFUSAL OP A FINAL SEARCH FOIt ...

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    A DIPLOMATIC DUEL. A MTTLB Napoleon in t...

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    China In Parliament. Lord Derby's Speech...

    what Chinese official vengeance is . The poor French missionary , tortured for three days , hung , and disembowelled by the executioners , who ate his heart , rebukes from his grave the sentimentalism -of those oracle ' s of humanity who talk of China as a land of helpless innocence and exalted simplicity . Lord Deebt had obviously prepared his long oration after certain models , of which , no doubt , he has many in his library . It was

    a disappointment to him , however , when he reached his studied peroration—an appeal to the Episcopal Bench—to find tbat most of the lawn-sleeved peers had drifted away , so that he was compelled to force a parenthesis of regret , and to declare what he would have addressed to them had the y been ' within hearing . They had not waited to watch the dying fires of the Parliamentary Bupebt .

    February 28,1857.] The L E A D E E. 205

    February 28 , 1857 . ] THE L E A D E E . 205

    Oiticial Refusal Op A Final Search Foit ...

    OITICIAL REFUSAL OP A FINAL SEARCH FOIt FRANKLIN . The Government has refused to send out an expedition in search of Franklin ' s remains , and , in refusing , Government has chosen to take a very low standard of public or personal morality . There was every reason for acceding to the petitions from the widow and scientific men urging the expedition ; the reasons against it were few and feeble . We will not argue , we will do nothing more than state facts . There have been some traces of

    the lost expedition ; but there area hundred and thirty-five men who have been lost , and we have no reckoning of them . It is not probable , but it is possible , that some of them may be alive ; if even one is so , he , imprisoned within the icy circle of the Arctic region , will never lose the faith that his countrymen will not leave him to perish unsought . The searches that have hitherto been made hare traversed a great deal of the

    ground , and they have settled the question with respect to all but a comparatively small spot ; there is one place that has leen left unsearched , and the tracks of those who have been engaged in the quest completely surround this space . The person to whom Government has adjudged the reward for discovering the traces of the last expedition , Dr . Bae , has never reached that circle . The place is perfectly well known , the route to it is well known . By means of dogs , the whole space could be completely swept , every rood

    of it could be accounted for . It is tolerably certain that the remains of the expedition lie within that area ; it is most likely tliat some relics of them are there , awaiting recovery , some records , some direction , some bequests . This precise nature of the search renders it certain that the expedition now asked would be final ; it would finish oft * the field that is to be examined , and it is most likely that it -would actually bring to us the crowning information respecting the fate of Fbanklin and his followers . So much for the object of the expedition .

    The means . Government is not asked to plan an expedition as an entire novelty ; a large portion of the apparatus exists . For a ship , there is the Bcsoluto , presented to this country by the Americana , and refitted at American expense . It is laid up in ordinary , to rot away in . idleness ; but there could not possibly be a . moro graceful return for the graceful gift tlmn to employ it in a new

    expedition . ] VLoat certainly the Americans themselves would highly applaud such a use of their present . Captain Soohkll admitted , in the debate on Tuesday night , that il' an expedition were sent out , a second vessel ought to accompany the other . Thin it ) not quite certain , but it may be so , and if the United Empire shrinks from the expense , wo leel some confidonco that the United

    Republic would not hesitate to stand by us ; for the spirit which animated Mr . Gbinnell in his munificent contributions towards the search is not extinct . The stores are in existence , and there are other stores buried in the Arctic shores . A number of officers have competed for employment ; amongst them are Colli ^ - son , Richards , M'Clintock , MAauiRE , and Osborn . The only things wanted area modicum of money and the sanction of the Government .

    Government hesitates to grant the money ; why , we cannot conceive . If the appeal were made direct to the English people , whom it would cost something less than a farthing-a family , the mite would be given to the widow without a moment's hesitation . Sir Chaklies "Wood professes to shrink from . "'the responsibility" of risking life . Now , in point of fact , there is no enterprise at all testing tlie hardihood of the British sailor which has

    been so free from casualty as the Arctic exploration . The loss of Franklin is the exception to the rule . The pleas of Government , therefore , are beggarly in spirit , and disgraceful to the country in whose name they are uttered . The appeals to Government have been many , and they are of a kind to deserve attention . In the summer of 1856 was presented a memorial urging an expedition . This memorial was signed by many names the most conspicuous in practical science , and it is well known that those eminent men

    felt not only a scientific but a personal interest in the final search . To this appeal , the Admiralty gave its ' consideration ; ' Tmt then replied that it was too late that season to equip an expedition . At a . later date , the subject was again pressed upon Government by Lord WROTTESiiEY , to whom Lcrd Sxa . ni / ey of Alderley replied in a favourable tone , intimating that if Government sent no expedition , Lady Frankxin should be assisted in fitting out one of

    her own . Thus the season of 1856 was tided over , and the widow , claiming a debt due from the English to her lost husband , was put off with procrastinating excuses ; and thus she was prevented from ' turning away and raising that assistance which might then have been collected from her own friends , the friends of Franklin mid of science . In the Svinter she turned from that lost summer to the season of tho present year ; early in December , Ladv Franklin

    made a direct appeal to Lord Palmeuston , in a letter which has since boon published by Mr . lima way . In . this letter , written with all tlie plainness and force of natural feeling , Lady Fjkanklin strung together the practical reasons why tho final search should be made , and the reasons why it should not be refused . That letter was written on the 2 nd of December ; three months have passed away , —three months proper to

    be employed in preparations ; and now , in February , Sir Charliss ~ Wooi > gives the answer with new reasons , falsifying the pretexts upon which tho assent was put oft" lust year . The answer amounts to this : " no reasonable person entertains the expectation that any man of Sir John Franklin ' s expedition could bo found alive ; " Dr . Eae ' s report implied that they perished in 1 S 0 O ; : i court of law has decided that thoir survival is

    improbable ; it i . s not likely that Franklin has left any records in a part where they could be found ; tho only relics would probably be pieces of ships , wood , oars , and things of that kind . Sir Ojeaklics regretted the Frank mn expedition when it was sent out , and he " -will not incur any fresh responsibility , or give svny encouragement to the proposal to send out another e . \ podition . " Now Home of these reasons arc co untor to facts . To take o no instance ,

    it is extremely probable that F & anklin has left relics where they could be found , Arctic travellers "being constantly in the habit of making such deposits . Another instance : Dr . Kane , Sir George Beatt : fob . t , and Captain Osbobn all believe that some men of the expedition may still be alive . The dilatory replies of last year were almost a promise—if , indeed , there was not a direct promise—of assistance . Cold , heartless counsels have prevailed , and the Government shows itself unworthy of the country which has produced a IFbankltn .

    A Diplomatic Duel. A Mttlb Napoleon In T...

    A DIPLOMATIC DUEL . A MTTLB Napoleon in the East of Europe , Prince Ghika ., has prohibited the circulation , in the Danubian Principalities , of any journal which advocates the Moldo-Wallachian union . We find ourselves for once , therefore , in the pleasant company of the JVbrd and the Moniteur . But journalists in the "West address themselves to their own governments and their own public ; so that Prince GrHiKA , potentate as he is , cannot sprinkle on us even the ashes of a thunderbolt . "We regret to state that serious differences have arisen in Eastern Europe "between Lord de Bedcmffe and Sir Henry BtjijWer — differences which have excited considerable anxiety among the Liberals of Moldo-Wallachia . Lord de Bedcliffe had assented , with surprising facilities to the original draft of the firman convoking the Assembly of the Provinces . In this original draft the middle and professional classes were altogether ignored , and the Divan was so constituted as to represent only the corrupt imbecility of the Boyards . Lord de Bedcliffe , probably ,

    had not contemplated such a result ; but he knows little of the Principalities , and learns nothing of them except through the Consul at Bucharest . Whether inspired by that individual , or governed by motives of mistaken public policy , our Ambassador seems for a year past to have consecrated his energies to one end—that . of aggrandizing the Giiika family . Now , wo have had sufficient experience of Ghika statesmanship . It means snatching at public money , contempt of popular claims , obsequious servility to theEoyards ,

    Lord Stratford de Bedclifpe , under the original firman , would have vested this petty prince and petty aristocracy with a monopoly of representation in the Mo ] do- "Wallachian Assembly . His tactics seem to have opened the way to a diplomatic success , achieved by the French Ambassador , M . de Thouvenel . lie saw that the distinction in favour of the

    Boyards was unpopular , and insisted that it should be set aside , nnd that the members of the Divan should bo elected by all classes of landed proprietors , great and small . The firman was modified to this extent , and we believe we are right in stating that M . DE Tjiouvknel received the aid and approval of Sir Hknhy Bulwkr , whose advico to Bbjdsoiiid Pacha , was also in favour of tlie moro

    popular plan of election . Lord db Bei ) Olifj ? e whs indignant , but he woultl have spared himself this mortification had ho consulted the British Commissioner before dictating to the Moldo-Wallachians . On another point , the Ambassador and the Commissioner are reported to be at variance . Sir Hknky Bulwkr does look upon the union of the Principalities with the same alarm us Lord DJ 3 Ekdolifi'e , who professed a very wholesome horror of Bonaparfcism , na though it were rational to believe that tho Moldo-Walliichians would accept a Bonaparte prince , or that whether the territories wore united

    or not , . Russia , Austria , Great Britain , and Turkey would consent to Hiieh a scheme . Once it was Busnia that was tsuid to promote the union , for purpoaes of lier own ; now

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 28, 1857, page 13, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_28021857/page/13/